Growing up in Los Angeles and studying as an undergraduate at Brigham Young University, Michael Dorff hadn’t heard a lot about Kentucky, let alone the University of Kentucky.

But while he was getting his masters in mathematics at the University of New Hampshire and trying to look for a doctoral program, one of his professors mentioned UK.

“She told me about a professor at UK, Ted Suffridge,” Dorff said. “He’s the reason I applied.”

Dorff, now an associate professor in Brigham Young University’s math department, said he wasn’t disappointed.

“The faculty at UK had high expectations that I would work hard and professors like Ted Suffridge were always looking for ways to help me and the other students,” Dorff said. “People there were very friendly, very nice. I have these fond

Graduate Student Spotlight By Saraya Brewer

Photos by Mark Cornelison



Amy Anderson’s academic history has taken a sharp turn since her early undergrad pre-medical path. “We had to kill things in our lab class and that was the end of that,” she laughed. “I always liked to write – I went straight back to the English Department.”



Though she has studied English for close to a decade now, Anderson is quick to admit that her “academic ADD” still stands: “I can’t focus on a time period. I’m interested in anything you put in front of me.” 



Her broad and varied interests make Anderson the perfect candidate for the brand new division of the University of Kentucky English department: Writing, Rhetoric and Digital Media. Anderson says she was

They came from different backgrounds and for different reasons-- a diverse group of UK undergrads that didn't know much about one another, or the culture in which they were getting ready to dive into.

 

On May 30, 12 UK students and two instructors returned from a two-week trip to the Bawana Resettlement Colony on the outskirts of New Delhi to work with nonprofit home-builder Habitat for Humanity.

 

But these students weren't constructing houses; they were constructing relationships, hitting the slums running with video cameras and tape recorders, telling Habitat's story of India from the ground up in a UK summer class aptly titled, "Writers Without Borders."

 

"I was just shocked; and shocked more and more every day," said English and Spanish

By Guy Spriggs

In late March 2010, two conferences will come together when the University of Kentucky hosts the Spring Southeastern Sectional Meeting of the American Mathematical Society (AMS) and the Annual Meeting of the Kentucky Section of the Mathematical Association of America (KYMAA).

The events on March 26, 27 and 28 will mark the first time UK has hosted a sectional meeting of the AMS since 1994 and the first return of the KYMAA since 2001. Organizers in the Mathematics Department at UK have worked hard to bring the meetings to Lexington and overlap events for one weekend. “It was definitely not a coincidence,” said UK associate professor of mathematics

<p>The summer months will provide many of us with time to further our individual efforts (and hopefully offer a little bit of rest).&nbsp;I plan to spend part of the summer furthering a planning initiative that commenced this Spring.&nbsp;In an effort to develop a common College vision, groups of faculty have been meeting to brainstorm what it means to be a college of excellence in 2020.&nbsp;This exercise, dubbed Envision 2020, relates in part to the University&rsquo;s goal of becoming a top 20 public university in 2020, but it also provides us with the opportunity to create a vision of where we want to be as a college &ndash; a vision that will energize and excite alumni and friends to invest in us. My hope is that by the time school starts in August, I will have a set of documents ready to circulate to faculty and staff for comment. I look forward to

Physics & Astronomy alum Dr. Anjan K. Gupta came to the University of Kentucky after earning bachelors and masters degrees from the Indian Institute of Technology in 1995 in Kanpur, India.

Anjan is from a small city called Etawah in Uttar Pradesh, the most populated state in India.

“I wanted to go to the United States because I knew there would be many opportunities for research as a graduate student,” Anjan said. “I applied many places but I was interested in UK because they had a good condensed matter experimental department. I knew that’s what I wanted to pursue.”

Anjan said he found good teachers and mentors among the faculty in the physics and astronomy department, particularly Dr. Joseph Brill and Dr.

Graduate Student Spotlight

by Guy Spriggs

photos by Richie Wireman



Earth & environmental graduate students Ashley Barton and Donny Loughry took separate but similar paths to their graduate education at the University of Kentucky.



Both are natives of West Virginia. Both completed undergraduate degrees in education and have experience as teachers. Both had an interest in science and nature from a young age, and both relished the opportunity to be interviewed outside on a sunny day.



Most importantly, however, both Barton and Loughry decided that graduate study in UK’s Earth and Environmental Science (EES) Department was the right outlet for the

<p>The <a target="_blank" href="http://www.as.uky.edu/academics/departments_programs/Psychology/Psychol…; department has been receiving a lot of recognition for its latest research from graduate student Holly Miller. She has been providing insight to the brain&rsquo;s use of glucose to perform acts of self-control, by studying dogs in a UK psychology lab. Holly&rsquo;s examination of dog behavior has been featured on the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wray-herbert/dog-tired-what-our-hounds_b_… Post</a>, as well as the journal <a target="_blank

Graduate Student Spotlight

by Jessica Fisher

photos by Shaun Ring

Most people in Kentucky associate the relationship between the state’s water and its limestone geology with world-famous bourbon and strong competitive thoroughbreds.

For Ganesh Tripathi, a graduate student in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Kentucky, it was his interest in groundwater systems, and how limestone affects such systems, that brought him to Lexington, Ky., from Nepal in 2007.

So, besides unique groundwater systems, top-rated horses and the best bourbon in the world, just what is so great about limestone? As Tripathi’s research indicates, it is not always as picturesque as the Kentucky landscape may suggest.

Tripathi first became fascinated with karst groundwater systems after receiving a master’s

Graduate Student

By Megan Neff

Photos by Mark Cornelison

Natalie Glover bears no material resemblance to Wassily Kandinski.

But the 23-year-old psychology graduate student has dealt with the abstract in ways that parallel this Russian abstract painter and art theorist.

The most obvious parallel is that Glover is a painter too. And like Kandinski, she realizes the intrinsic value of art in dealing with matters of human nature; of reflecting not only what is aesthetically pleasing, but also what is internally revealing.

“The older I get, the more I study, the more confident I become,” said Glover. “And I find that in my art. More and more I’m starting to do original work, most of it abstract. I’m starting to trust in my abilities more.”

Though Glover’s path did not lead to pioneering a new

<p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.as.uky.edu/academics/departments_programs/Biology/Biology/fa… Beattie</a>, a professor of Biology, travels with students to Australia to study the diverse ecosystems in different locations around the continent. Students get to&nbsp;swim&nbsp;near the Great Barrier Reef, visiting World Heritage Sites, and also get to experience cosmopolitan culture in Sydney. Her course includes on-site study in tropical rainforests in Queensland and eucalyptus forests in southern Australia. The class, which&nbsp;takes students across the globe and expands their perceptions of the natural world, is not only beneficial to the students as individuals, but to the&nbsp;UK

<p>&nbsp;<br />
Last week, I gave the annual state of the college address to Arts and Sciences faculty and staff. Despite the current state of the economy, the college is making great strides. This year we are hiring 30 new faculty, expanding our international reach, and adding 30 online summer classes. The college is also beginning a new planning initiative - Envision 2020 - to look forward to the year 2020. We are envisioning where students will be in 10 years and what the college needs to become to meet their needs.&nbsp; We also will be examining how research and teaching will evolve and grow&nbsp;in a technologically-connected world.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
It is an exciting time in Arts and Sciences, and I look forward to hearing from our alumni and friends.<br />
&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;<br />
I&nbsp;am probably not the only one excited about the new PBS&nbsp;series featuring two A&amp;S&nbsp;professors.&nbsp; PBS is airing a series called &quot;<a target="_blank" href="http://www.appalachiafilm.org/">Appalachia:&nbsp;A&nbsp;History of Mountains and People</a>&quot; on Thursdays for the&nbsp;next month.&nbsp;Professors <a target="_blank" href="http://www.as.uky.edu/academics/departments_programs/English/English/Fa… Norman</a> and <a target="_blank" href="

<p>I would like to extend my congratulations to Hui Chu and Christine Smith, both graduate students in A&amp;S.&nbsp;&nbsp;Hui is&nbsp;a doctoral candidate in&nbsp;developmental and social <a target="_blank" href="http://www.as.uky.edu/academics/departments_programs/Psychology/Psychol…;; Christine is working on her master's degree in the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.uky.edu/AS/Geography/">Department of Geography</a>.&nbsp; The <a target="_blank" href="http://www.nsf.gov/">National Science Foundation</a>

A Different Kind of Healing

by Kathryn Wallingford

photos by Shaun Ring

Before Ericka Barbour learned about feminist scholars, before she heard the stories of men and women and their struggles to overcome society’s misconceptions of gender, and before the name “Judith Butler” meant something to her, she was on her way to becoming a doctor.

After graduating from Louisville’s Central High School Pre-Med magnet program, Barbour saw a career in the field of medicine as a means of “healing” and helping those in need. Deciding she wanted to become an OBGYN, Barbour signed up for classes in biology and chemistry as a college freshman at the University of Kentucky.

But within her first two semesters of the natural sciences, Barbour became

Cindy Isenhour is featured currently on the Anthropology Department home page for her work studying the culture of consumption and how it relates to sustainability.  She is interested in issues of social and environmental justice, which has informed her work with the UK Anthropology Department.

 

Her dissertation,  "Building Sustainable Societies: Exploring Sustainability Policy and Practice in the Age of High Consumption" is in progress and will be an important contribution to the study of sustainability.  For more information about her work, click here.

<p>&nbsp;<br />
Last week, faculty from the College of Arts and Sciences began communication with colleagues from the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.uwc.ac.za/">University of the Western Cape in South Africa</a>.&nbsp; Via video conference, approximately a dozen UK faculty and their South African counterparts discussed ways in which the two institutions could work together.&nbsp; Ideas included opportunities for students to study abroad, faculty and postdoctoral scholar exchanges, and research collaborations.&nbsp; Conversations will continue in the coming months.&nbsp; The University of the Western Cape is a premier institution of higher education, located in Cape Town, South Africa.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;<br />
Many A&amp;S&nbsp;Faculty are going places!&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="http://www.as.uky.edu/academics/departments_programs/GenderWomenStudies… Basu</a>, an associate professor with our <a target="_blank" href="http://www.as.uky.edu/ACADEMICS/DEPARTMENTS_PROGRAMS/GENDERWOMENSTUDIES… of&nbsp;Gender and Women's Studies</a>, has been selected by the Rockefeller Foundation for a month-long residency in beautiful Bellagio, Italy.&nbsp;She will have the opportunity to

<p>&nbsp;<br />
I am excited to announce that this weekend, the University of Kentucky is going to host a long-standing and international event, the <a href="http://web.as.uky.edu/kflc/&quot; target="_blank">Kentucky Foreign Language Conference</a> (KFLC), which is in its 63rd year. I have the honor of being a supporter of the KFLC, which showcases the work of specialists in language, literature, culture, and linguistics. </p>
<p>LangTech is the technology division of the event, which has been an integral part of the conference&rsquo;s offerings since 2005. There are six technology sessions this year, which include applied and theoretical topics ranging from using video games to teach language to whether or not language learners&rsquo; autonomy can be

I was fortunate to attend the compelling A&S Week keynote address "Stereotypes and Inequalities: Hillbillies, Horses, and Hoops" by our very own Ronald Eller. If you missed out on this superb A&S Week event, you can listen to it here.